“It should be here by now.”
“Yes. But it hasn’t arrived, not yet.”
* * * * * * * *
Lloyd Hill’s method of extracting gold from pay-dirt was simple, but effective. He had arranged a board trough a foot wide, six inches deep and ten feet long in such a manner that it might be shaken backward and forward. Since the trough was tilted slightly, any substance within it would move slowly toward the lower end.
At that end was a pocket half filled with quick-silver.
He shoveled pay-dirt into the trough. As the girl rocked the trough backward and forward he poured upon it warm water from his steam thawer. As the mass of soft earth moved downward, heavy particles went to the bottom, then into the mercury pocket. The mercury collected the gold to itself. The lighter rocks were crowded out and passed on.
“Won’t get it all,” Lloyd explained as he shoveled. “Not near all. But, if it’s any good we’ll thaw it out and work it over again in the spring.”
For an hour after that they worked in silence. Only once did the young man lift his face to the wind, to mutter:
“Going to storm.”
Already the wind was rising. Joyce felt bits of snow cut her cheeks.